Chapter Ninety-Seven: Keeping my Sanity

Here we are, almost three weeks later, and college has already swept most of us into a whirlwind of work. It's a little refreshing to put down my waitress book and tray and pick up a thick textbook again. Getting back into the swing of daily class and late nights studying with roommates truly reveals my true desire for knowledge, as well as rhythm.
However, things usually don't go to plan when we want them to. When we first moved in, we noticed that in one of our bathrooms, there was a suspicious ring on the ceiling. We didn't think too much about it, since it didn't really bother us. When we got back from break, though, the ceiling bits began to fall off. We decided to contact maintenance, which found a leak in the pipe above our shower. Before we knew it, we had a large, dark, scary hole in our bathroom. It frequently rained dirt and dust in the bathtub with the impact of the door closing, but that wasn't the worst part. There was a piece of fuzz (insulation or something similar) that would move with the change of air currents in the bathroom. This made the hole 10000x creepier.

Watch with Sound for Full Effect

In result of this creepy addition to our bathroom decor, Mary and I moved into the bathroom Bailey and Nikki share. This led to a crowded ensemble of shampoo bottles and loofahs, but it's all worth it when there is a monster in your bathroom!

Slowly but surely, the hole was fixed. This involved many days of maintenance visiting our room, making the hole larger, breaking our soap holder (oops), and laughing at the notes we left around the room for them. 

Day 2: Fuzz is Gone

Day 3: It's a Whole New World Up There

Day 3 again: Trying to Contain the Mess...Good try

All Patched Up! (Maybe)

In other news (if you didn't catch it earlier), we have a new roommate! Well, sort of. Nikki is Mary's little sister, who lived in a different dorm her first semester. Jenny decided to study abroad in Sweden this spring (check out her blog here!), and so Nikki moved in! Hooray! Our room has been pretty fun these last couple of weeks, with Nikki as our new roommate (she brings friends often), as well as Martin and Luke visiting nearly every other day. 

Going to college isn't just about getting good grades and attending class! While this is important, maintaining your sanity is a huge part of going to school, too. We've all been doing a pretty good job at staying involved in our various organizations and having decent social lives. Whether it's going on a date to Chipotle, having a midnight run to IHOP, or attending church activities, we all are having our fair share of fun this semester.

You are the Burrito of my Eye

Late Night at IHOP

Speaking of fun, this past weekend, my roommates and I (and Martin) all took a day to go shopping! After a long day of searching through clothes and whatever else suited our interests, we gathered for pho. (Can you tell I love pho? I've blogged about it at least a dozen times.) 

Silly Martin

Martin Tried Pho for the First Time!

Bailey Tried Pho Too!

Yuuuuuuuum!!!

After a delicious meal, we headed over to a local coffee shop called "Gatsby's Coffeehouse". I walked in and pretty much fell in love. The little shop has such a relaxing atmosphere and so aesthetically pleasing! We didn't come for coffee though, we came to see a local Lubbock band, Exit 208. The music was wonderful, the crowd was great, and my company was even better. I really enjoyed my time with my roomies, and hope we can have dates like this more often. 

Exit 208 in the Loft

Besties

Squad

Cute Nook

Fire Mantle

Looking in on Gatsby's Coffeehouse

I think I summed it up quite well in my Instagram post, "These are the nights you will remember. The ones with beautiful scenery, dim lighting, and great music. The moments you try something new, and laugh so hard your sides ache, and simply feel infinite. My friends are so wonderful."

Roomies and Besties? I Think Yes!

Luckily, my adventures don't stop there. Like I said in my last post, I'm taking a class called "Introductory Fieldcraft", which involves us experiencing the natural world around us through hiking, bird-watching, identifying plants, journaling, and sketching. Today was my first adventure with the class. We visited Lubbock Lake Landmark, a prairie-land ecosystem that is used for research, sighting, and many other incredible things. Today we learned how to sketch a tree, and we hiked a little of the small trail to get a bigger picture of the prairie. 

Beautiful Sky on a Prairie Landscape

Dr. T Showing us Around

Wildflowers!

More Wildflowers!

My Beautiful Tree!

I can already tell this Fieldcraft class will be something I will value and remember for a very long time. 

Spring 2016 is looking great so far! Many adventures await, I can feel it. I'm looking forward to future endeavors and blog posts. As always, thanks for reading.